YOU ARE WHAT YOU FEAR!

“I must not fear. Fear is the mind killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.”
~Frank Herbert from ‘Dune’~

If only that was the case. Then we would truly embody that which we came here to be.
But instead, fear has a strangle hold on our possibilities. Like the cold winds on a winter Nebraska night, fear has its grip on our throats, choking out the last gasp of our soul, subduing us in the domain of the ego, for all eternity.
Oh, not me, you say. I live my life courageously, without fear.
Indeed. I am sure that you do, at least in your filtered version of reality. But to know fearlessness, we should study the life of Mother Teresa, who lived in the squalor of Calcutta, a literal hell on earth.
This tireless saint, nearing the end of her life, had a heart attack. And after surviving this brush with death, (some say miraculously), she was advised to take it easy, that her non-stop life of self-less service could kill her.
Her reply was simple and silent. Within days she was back on the street, tending to the homeless and destitute of the world, with these words on her lips:
I believe in person to person. Every person is Christ for me, and since there is only one Jesus, that person is the one person in the world at that moment.

-Mother Teresa of Calcutta~
Knowing the conditions of the streets that Mother Teresa worked, and the abject terror and poverty that surrounded her, I would assert that she had conquered fear, and realized in its absence the indomitable essence of her own soul.
For indeed, she realized that she was the one she was waiting for all along.
Mother Teresa didn’t wait for ‘someone to do something about this disgrace’, as I have heard so many people utter under their breath when they encountered an unfortunate soul on the streets. She opened her arms and her heart, and allowed love to pour out.
For Mother Teresa realized the ability to love many, if not all.
Virtually everyone today believes that it is possible to love only two or three people. When Jesus talks about loving our neighbor as ourselves, or the Compassionate Buddha tells us to love the whole world as a mother loves her only child, we believe it is all metaphorical. Mother Teresa says no, it is literal. Two or three people are not enough for our capacity to love. We should be able to love everyone – not feel a vague sentiment for a faceless mass, but actually be in love with every individual.
~Ecknath Easwaran~
That kind of compassion does not arise in the common man or woman. And why not, I ask? What is it about us that becomes so jaded and detached from the sufferings of our fellow man?
What has us convinced at our own self importance? What has us feel entitlement to the ‘spoils of life’? And to our own self-grasping attachment to the objects of our desire?
What power separates us from the unconditional love of the universe, and has us jealously protect the scraps of life like a mongrel snarlingly begrudging a morsel here or a tot there like Ebenezer Scrooge?
Why the ego of course!
That wily opponent that was birthed into being when we took corporeal form here on Planet Earth. Our great friend and fearless leader. (sarcasm). And what created our ego?
Why our fears of course. Or I should say, our inherited fears more precisely. The fears of our parents, our society, our culture, our religion, our schools, our peers, etc. You get the drift. We have inherited more fears than Lisa Presley inherited gold records. And here is the best part.
We unconsciously accepted them all!
But now that our eyes have been opened to the damage that they are causing us through their construct or dependent arising, —the ego, we can consciously choose to undo what has been done.
Now, don’t get me wrong. A few well placed personal growth books here, a workshop there is going to do wonders, but to really undo the damage that the ego has done is going to take some real work.
There is an old Buddhist proverb that says that it will take as long to unmake a thing as it did to make it. So, I am sure that many of you right now are saying, thanks for the good news! What if I don’t have that long?
Well, for the most part, your egos were created and in force by the time you were four years old. You have only been re-enforcing it since then! (With some exceptions based on the variety of life experiences out in the real world.
So at best, with diligent application, real transformation is not that far out of reach. But one thing I know for sure.
You have to be committed!

Because, I guarantee, you will get what you are committed to. And right now you are committed to your ego. Do you know how I know? Just look around you right now, and see how attached you are to the things that you have in your life. Your conveniences, your car, your clothes your technology, your MTV, etc.
You get the idea. Your material stuff, which, is actually getting in the way of your attaining the greatness that you have been hiding all along.
So who are you waiting for? Or better yet, what are you waiting for? A sign from GOD?
We spend a lot of our lives looking for role models, mentors, teachers, and gurus to guide us on our path. There is nothing wrong with this and, in fact, finding the right person at the right time can really help. However, it is important to realize that in the absence of such a figure, we can very safely rely upon ourselves.
For we carry within us everything we need to know to make progress on our paths to self-realization. The outer world is serving as a mirror. Or to use another metaphor, our inner fears have a magnetic force that draws to us what we need, in order to evolve to the next level.
All we need to do to see that we already have everything we need, is to let go of our belief that we need to seek in order to find!
So, like the litany of fear from Dune by Frank Herbert, face your fears, allow them to wash over you and through you. And when your fear is gone, you will find inside yourself, the hero that you have always dreamt of, that warrior of peace and love.

So when we find ourselves on our path, not knowing which way to turn and wishing for guidance, we can turn to ourselves. We may not know the right answer rationally or intellectually, but if we simply ask, let go, and wait patiently, an answer will come.
And remember and old adage, that the philosophers stone is usually found in a pile of dung! So don’t judge your experiences by there outward appearances, as you may just miss the greatest lesson of all!
Peace and Blessings on your Journey